ARES_LIBRARY_CLEANUP

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

The
ares_library_cleanup
function uninitializes the c-ares library, freeing all resources
previously acquired by ares_library_init(3) when the library
was initialized.

This function must be called when the program using c-ares will
no longer need any c-ares function. Once the program has called
ares_library_cleanup(3) it shall not make any further call to any
c-ares function.

This function does not cancel any pending c-ares lookups or requests
previously done. Program must use ares_cancel(3) for this purpose.

This function is not thread safe.
You have to call it once the program is about to terminate, but this call must
be done once the program has terminated every single thread that it could have
initiated. This is required to avoid potential race conditions in library
deinitialization, and also due to the fact that ares_library_cleanup(3)
might call functions from other libraries that are thread unsafe, and could
conflict with any other thread that is already using these other libraries.

Win32/64 application DLLs shall not call ares_library_cleanup(3) from
the DllMain function. Doing so will produce deadlocks and other problems.

AVAILABILITY

This function was first introduced in c-ares version 1.7.0 along with the
definition of preprocessor symbol CARES_HAVE_ARES_LIBRARY_CLEANUP as an
indication of the availability of this function.

Since the introduction of this function, it is absolutely mandatory to call it
for any Win32/64 program using c-ares.

Non-Win32/64 systems can still use c-ares version 1.7.0 without calling
ares_library_cleanup(3) due to the fact that currently it is nearly
a do-nothing function on non-Win32/64 platforms.